Labor issues

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California prison officials said Friday that they suspended multiple employees who made racist jokes about the death of an African American man in police custody in Minneapolis, a disclosure that came amid protests across the state and nation. The Department of Corrections...

A woman walks past a boarded up business, Thursday, May 28, 2020, in East Cleveland, Ohio. The state says about 1.3 million Ohioans have filed unemployment claims in the past 10 weeks as Ohio's stay-at-home order depressed the economy and led to widespread layoffs. The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services says about 42,000 people filed claims for the week ending May 23. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The coronavirus crisis threw at least 2.1 million Americans out of work last week despite the gradual reopening of businesses around the country, stoking fears Thursday that the scourge is doing deep and potentially long-lasting damage to the U.S. economy. Despite a few glimmers...

WASHINGTON (AP) — As U.S. coronavirus deaths top 100,000, Democrats are slamming the Trump administration for failing to protect front-line workers, including those at meatpacking plants and health care facilities where outbreaks of the disease are spiking. At a House hearing Thursday, Democrats...

People prepare the terrace of their restaurant in Boulogne-Billancourt, outside Paris, Thursday, May 28, 2020. France is reopening its restaurants, bars and cafes starting next week as the country eases most restrictions amid the coronavirus crisis. Edouard Philippe defended the gradual lifting of lockdown up to now, saying the strategy was meant to avoid provoking a second wave. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

The Latest on the coronavirus pandemic. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. — U.N. chief warns of historic levels of famine. — South Africa eases...

Smoke rises over the Nissan factory as workers burn tires during a protest in Barcelona, Spain, Thursday, May 28, 2020. Japanese carmaker Nissan Motor Co. has decided to close its manufacturing plans in the northeastern Catalonia region, resulting in the loss of some 3,000 direct jobs. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Angry workers burned tires at the gates of the Nissan carmaking plant in northeastern Spain and prepared for more protests after the Japanese company said it would shut all its manufacturing in the region as it reshuffles its global business. The decision will lead to 3,000...

This photo combo shows from left, Lisa Su, president and CEO of AMD, David M. Zaslav, President and Chief Executive Officer of Discovery Communications, General Motors Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra, Walt Disney Company Chairman and CEO Robert A. Iger and Netflix Founder and CEO Reed Hastings. The typical pay package for CEOs at the biggest U.S. companies topped $12.3 million in 2019, and the gap between the boss and their workforces widened further, according to AP’s annual survey of executive compensation. (AP Photo/File)

The typical pay package for CEOs at the biggest U.S. companies topped $12.3 million last year, and the gap between the boss and their workforces widened further, according to AP’s annual survey of executive compensation. Median pay for CEOs in the survey climbed 4.1% last year. For the typical...

FILE - In this March 17, 2020, file photo, people wait in line for help with unemployment benefits at the One-Stop Career Center in Las Vegas. The coronavirus pandemic has been particularly brutal to the tourism-dependent economies of Nevada and Hawaii, lifting the unemployment rate in both states to about one-quarter of the workforce. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)

GENEVA (AP) — Bashar Ali Naim used to work in a perfume and accessories store in Baghdad, earning $480 per week on average. About three months ago, the coronavirus outbreak swept into Iraq, and the 28-year-old father of two has been out of work ever since. “I am suffering a lot without work. I feel...

NEW YORK (AP) — The verbal dispute between a white woman walking her dog and a black man bird watching in Central Park might normally have gone unnoticed in a city preoccupied by the coronavirus pandemic. That changed when birdwatcher Christian Cooper pulled out his phone and captured Amy Cooper...

In this photo provided by Cristobal Francisquez, his parents Paulina and Marcos Francisco pose for a photo in front of their house in Sioux City, Iowa, Monday, May 25, 2020. They bought the home after years of working in a meatpacking plant and other food processing jobs. (Cristobal Francisquez via AP)

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — When Martha Kebede’s adult sons immigrated from Ethiopia and reunited with her in South Dakota this year, they had few work opportunities. Lacking English skills, the brothers took jobs at Smithfield Foods' Sioux Falls pork plant, grueling and increasingly risky work as the...

BEIRUT (AP) — Long before the pandemic struck, they lived and worked in conditions that rights groups called exploitative — low wages, long hours, no labor law protections. Now, some 250,000 registered migrant laborers in Lebanon — maids, garbage collectors, farm hands and construction workers —...